Visitors add pieces to Ramona's historical jigsaw puzzle
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
The only "admission" we charge at the Dirt Gambler's Museum in Ramona is a good story. If you don't have a story — how about a picture? After all, the history of a town is a bit like a jig saw puzzle — you get a story from someone, a reference note from another, a picture gives a clue, and suddenly the pieces of the past come together.
When Dareld and Martha Albright of Lawrence came to Ramona Nov. 4, I took them on a tour of the school pictures, the military exhibit, the fashion showcase, and the old town pictorials. And then I said, "So tell me about Ramona, tell me a story." After all, Dareld was born in Ramona and he and his wife both attended Ramona High School.
"Sorry, I can't give you any good stories," apologized Dareld with a grin. I quickly figured out that it wasn't that he couldn't give me a good story — he just wouldn't! "The stories I know about people around Ramona are not printable," he teased. "And if they were printable, I would probably have to leave the country
But Dareld and Martha did bring pictures, and the military photos of Dareld and his brother, Marvin, and of Martha's brother, Leonard Rudolph, were immediately framed and placed on the wall.
Dareld and two of his siblings were born in the little white house just east of the Ramona garage. (The house and new owner, Clint Kidd, are mentioned later in my column.)
A year or so after Dareld and Martha graduated from Ramona High School the two got married and needed a place to stay. "Happy Schmidt lived in the house just across the street from where Dareld lived as a child," said Martha. "Happy was a bachelor and he had this two-story house and didn't need all the room, so we rented two rooms on the west side. We lived there from May to November and then Dareld got drafted."
The house where Dareld and Martha lived as newlyweds is now owned by Johnney and Angel Harold, newcomers to Ramona about three years ago.
Ron and Carol Hadduck from McPherson, stopped by the museum recently and we got to talking about Ramona churches. At one time this little town had five!
Ron had ancestors in the Hope-Ramona area and he was searching for puzzle pieces of his own family history. All that Ron knew about his "Ramona connection" was that his grandfather, Jacob Mellinger, was a member of the Holiness Mission Church, which I believe was located on the empty lot on the southeast corner of 4th and B in Ramona. It could be that Ron's grandpa Mellinger was even the pastor of the church at one time.
According to the Ramona Centennial book, the Holiness Mission Church was a faction of the Rosebank Brethren in Christ Church west of town, and some of Ron's cousins (the Brandts) were one of the founders. "All I know is that it was quite a charismatic church," said Ron.
I remember my dad, Laurel Ehrhardt, mentioning such a charismatic group that had a church building just north of Jake Brunner's house. He and his friends got quite a thrill out of sneaking up to the church windows and watching as church members "got the spirit." The church services were much more enthusiastic than what Laurel and other country kids were used to.
The stairs to that church were still on the vacant lot next to Jake's place until recently — we'd often see Jake sitting on those steps watching for traffic. But when we bought Jake's house after his death, we removed those old church steps and a piece of history, in our fervor to clean up the property.
I've also heard mention of evangelistic tent meetings that were held in Ramona's park. I'm wondering if it was the same group. If any readers can shed light on these mysteries, call or write. Maybe the piece you hold will solve the puzzle.
If you want a tour of our little hometown heritage museum, the Dirt Gambler's Museum will be open from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 7.
Nothing stimulates a newspaper correspondent's curiosity like a bunch of cars clumped around somebody's house. So when I heard Tony Meyer had lots of cars at his place, I had to investigate.
"You just missed everybody," announced Tony, when I knocked on his door. Indeed, by the time I got my pen and paper and trotted to Tony's, his company had departed. But I learned that his nephew, Edward Meyer of Wichita and his wife, Barbara, and a friend of Edward's — Ed Mullhagean — were in the area to do some hunting.
"They are hunting quail and pheasant out at the old home place where my parents used to live, west of town," said Tony. In between hunting expeditions the group came into Ramona to see Uncle Tony. Erich Utech and his sister, Edna Mueller of Tampa also were at Tony's when his nephew stopped by.
Naomi Fike had hunting guests also a couple of weekends ago. Her son-in-law, Mack Bowyer of Haysville brought a friend from work and also his son, Scott Bowyer of Wichita, who invited his friend, Devan.
Coming from the opposite direction was another of Naomi's grandsons, Ryan Fike from Shawnee. Ryan and his friend Paul came to visit Naomi on the same weekend as the other members of the family.
The group was hunting at the Fike's old farm place west of town. "Scott and Devan got a bird and were going to fix theirs to eat," said Naomi. The other hunters were more into hunting than they were in eating wild game.
Warren Fike celebrated his birthday on Nov. 9 and nearly all the family came home to join the festivities. "It was an early Thanksgiving along with Warren's celebration," said Paula.
If you want to see Warren's birthday present just drive by their farm on Pawnee road. The kids got him an eagle and it's perched right next to the engraved stone that says "FIKE" just south of the driveway.
There was another party at the Fike house that weekend — a baby shower for Warren and Paula's granddaughter, Rebecca Wagner, who is expecting a baby in December. Rebecca and her husband, Ron live in the Kansas City area.
"Don't forget to announce the arrival of great-grandchild #9," prompted Paula. "Iris and Luke's baby was born Nov. 6 and her name is Sage Michaela Pauly." Warren and Paula will see Sage for the first time at the baby's baptism this Sunday.
And this last weekend the Fikes were in Branson with their daughter Linda Peterson, who conducts tours to this travel destination. "The Christmas shows are really great. Andy Williams was fabulous," said Paula.
The last night they were in Branson the group drove through Christmas Lane. "Two miles of decorations on both sides of the road," said Paula. In Branson they start celebrating Christmas early in November. (And here I thought putting up lights in Ramona prior to Thanksgiving might be rushing things!)
This weekend Angel and Johnney Harold were celebrating the birthday of their granddaughter, Shelley. And Shelley's father, Clint Kidd, was celebrating home ownership in the house he recently purchased just across the street from where Angel and Johnney live, on the corner of E and 3rd.
"Oh, he's cleaning the place up," enthused Clint's neighbors to the north, Al and Darlene Sondergard. "It's really looking nice." Indeed, when I drove by the house on Sunday there seemed to be lawnmowers everywhere — Nathan Bailey and his son, Collin, were being great neighbors and helping mow down the considerable expanse of grass that surrounds the house.
Folks in Ramona always are delighted when someone moves into town and improves a property. It's definite cause for celebration!
Just west of Clint's new home, there was a beehive of activity around the old Ramona garage as Art Stroda and his brother, Bob from Salina, were beginning to take down the walls of the collapsed garage. For the last few months Art has been removing the contents of the garage, and is now tackling the brick walls.
Last Friday Betty Ohm was back in school again — with her grandkids! Betty and Harold went to Platte City to see their daughter Jackie and family and specifically to celebrate Jordan's seventh birthday.
"Jordan celebrated her birthday in school and then we got to sit in on her Delta Class, which is a very unique advanced class," said Betty. "They were making skyscrapers out of newspapers and bridges out of straw — it was really interesting."
Then Betty visited her grandson, Justin's kindergarten class, where she was the "mystery reader" for the week. Betty chose to read Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving to the children and at the conclusion of the story the teacher asked the children if they knew who the reader was.
"Evidently Justin had a hard time keeping a secret that his grandmother was going to be the mystery reader for the week," laughed Betty, "because five or six children raised their hands and said they knew my identity."
Al and Darlene Sondergard were in Hillsboro this last weekend, celebrating their great-granddaughter, Reagen's, third birthday. Reagen is the daughter of Matt and Jamey Dalke. "All four of the grandparents and great-grandparents were there for the party," said Darlene.
Fred Utech came driving into Ramona Sunday afternoon, and we ran into each other over at the construction site of our mother's new home. We were stacking fire wood behind her house and Fred drove up in his pickup.
"I thought I'd just drive around the house and check out construction," said Fred. And since Pat and I were there, he stopped for a chat.
Fred had just been at the Cow Camp cattle sale held out at Kent Brunner's ranch, east of Ramona. His brother, Erich, along with Tony Meyer, were also at the sale. "When I left the house for the Brunner sale I asked Marguerite if I should take my checkbook to the sale," said Fred, "but then I remembered that I've taken down all my fences recently. Can't have cattle without fences."
That's an effective technique to keep spending in check! Maybe if I removed my closets, I wouldn't be so tempted to buy new clothes.
The Brunner sales traditionally include lunch and the Sunday sale was no exception. "We fed 150-200 people," said Jean Brunner, Kent's wife. "It was a good sized crowd."
Eleven-year-old Cole Svoboda came running into the old bank building to tell me the late, great, exciting news. "I got the autographs of Thunderstorm, Cyclops, and Bounty Hunter," said Cole with high-pitched excitement as he displayed a small tablet where monster truck heroes had etched their signatures.
Cole and his dad, AJ, attended the monster truck event in Salina on the weekend of the 8th. "My favorite part was when the monster trucks drove over five cars!" exclaimed Cole. "The monster trucks were SO loud that you could feel the vibration of their motors on your chest! And we were sitting way up high in the arena!"
Here's a tidbit of news from one of Ramona's part-time residents, Phyllis Riddle. Phyllis and her husband BJ reside in Dallas, Texas, but at least twice a year they come to Ramona to spend time in their little house on the east side of town.
On Nov. 14 Phylllis graduated from Amberton University in Rockwall, Texas, and received her bachelor of science degree in human relations and business.
Ramona Mayor Connie Smith resigned at the conclusion of the city council meeting Nov. 11. In her resignation letter she appointed vice mayor, Pat Wick, to assume her responsibilities as mayor of Ramona.
"I certainly intend to be involved in community efforts," assured Connie. "Now that I'm not mayor, maybe I can enjoy it all more!"
Attempting to keep a community content, informed, cooperating and pleased can be a goal that's challenging to reach. "There's a lot of stress being mayor," agreed Connie," and now perhaps I can step back and enjoy the community and being at home with my family. I sacrificed a lot of time from my family," said Connie following her resignation.
Connie has served on Ramona's City Council nearly 12 years — the last three as mayor. While she was on the council several major projects were accomplished in Ramona — rural water and paved streets being the most notable. "It took us eight years and three grant applications to get our paved streets," said Connie.
Other highlights that she's proud to have been part of are the generator and new pumps at the sewer lift station and the recent ordinance to address dilapidated and unsafe buildings in city limits.
Connie and her husband, Dan have generously supported town events, like the 4th of July and the Ramona Block Party, and Connie will continue to serve on the Ramona Festivities Committee.
Several years ago Connie created a Christmas event for the children of Ramona, called the Angel Tree, and initiated the decorating of the town tree on Main Street. "These and other projects are close to my heart and I will continue to be involved," said Connie.
And that's the news from Ramona where a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
